Biographies:  George Balderose

George Balderose, a piper with more than twenty–five years of performing experience, plays and teaches Scottish and Irish pipe music on the Great Highland Bagpipe and various types of smallpipes from celtic lands. George performs regularly as a soloist and with champion Scottish and Irish dancers. Find out more at www.pittsburghpiper.com.

He has performed as a soloist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, and four times as a guest artist in concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall. He has also appeared in concert with Tom Chapin and John McCutcheon, The River City Brass Band, Brigadoon with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and others. A New York Times reviewer described George as having a "virtuoso's gift" and in the words of another he is a "virtuosic piper". Since 1975 he has performed at numerous concerts, festivals, and many other occasions. His piping has been recorded on H.K. Hilner's Dream Cathedral, the Dewar's Bagpipe Festival recording, A Celtic Christmas on the KRB label, as well as his own recording, Bagpipe Music Selections: Great Highland Pipes and Smallpipes.

In 1978 George founded and continues to instruct and serve as Director of the Balmoral Schools of Highland Piping, a non-profit corporation that produces educational sessions each summer at four to five universities across the USA. George teaches and plays both the "light" music of marches and dances, as well as the classical music of the pipes, called piobaireachd or Ceol Mor.

In 1980 the Clan Donald Educational and Charitable Trust awarded George a fellowship to travel to Scotland and study with master piper James McIntosh, M.B.E. A long-time student of James McIntosh, George has produced three cassettes and an instructional video of his mentor's playing. In 1981 George was awarded the Senior Certificate in Piping from the College of Piping in Glasgow, Scotland. Currently George serves as a Trustee of the Clan Donald Educational and Charitable Trust, a non-profit foundation that awards scholarships for Americans to study at Scottish universities. In 1984 George founded, directed, and served as piping instructor for Scottish Week at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV. Since 1989 he has been a member of the Pennsylvania Governor's Heritage Affairs Commission's Traditional and Ethnic Arts Touring Program.

This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Vira I. Heinz Endowment; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

Funding for concert performances and workshops by Road to the Isles is available to non-profit presenters throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. For more information contact PennPat at (www.pennpat.org) (215)496-9424, or Music Tree at () (412) 323-2707.